The death of a 44-year-old man who was working on the renovation works of a municipal theater in the city of Valencia has unleashed a political storm in the town hall. The worker died on Thursday around 7:20 a.m. after falling from a height of 16 meters, but the City Council, which was quickly informed of what happened - as the Executive spokesman, Juan Carlos Caballero, admitted yesterday - did not report it. . In fact, the municipal agenda was not altered and the mayor, María José Catalá, continued with her agenda.
A circumstance that has been highly criticized by the socialist party. "It is out of place and shows a lack of sensitivity that the mayor and her government continued with the normal agenda, hiding the information and without conveying a single sign of pain to the family," said the socialist spokesperson, Sandra Gómez.
For his part, his party colleague and councilor Borja Sanjuán emphasized the arguments after showing his condolences to the family and demanded explanations. “Catalá and the PP Government must clarify what happened, how long they have known it and, above all, they have to explain to us why they hid for a whole day that a worker had died at a city council work, which is one thing, you will understand. everyone, very serious,” said Sanjuán.
The PP's response was forceful. Caballero pointed out that they do not understand "the tortuous use that the opposition is making of a work accident." The popular councilor pointed out that both the National Police and the Labor Inspection are investigating what happened and recalled that it is a work that was put out to tender by the previous government, "we do not doubt that the security plans required in this type of contracting are in order. ", Caballero remarked.
For this reason, he called on the socialists for "high-mindedness and sensitivity" and argued that "blaming a contract that they themselves awarded is a bit mean." Despite questions from the media, the PP councilor did not respond to the reasons that led the government team not to report on what happened and not to modify the municipal agenda.
Although the circumstances are not the same, this event brings to mind what happened in 2017 when another worker died during the assembly of the stands for the Viveros concerts. The then Councilor for Festive Culture, Pere Fuset (Compromís), was charged; The victim's family requested five years in prison for him for a crime against the life and health of workers and reckless homicide. After five years, the councilor - who during the judicial process was removed from the Department - ended up acquitted after an agreement between the insurers, the private prosecution and the public ministry.
